Journalist; music critic; researcher; writer and musician; wrote for various outlets, including the cultural monthly publication Farhang va Honar and the Harmony Talk website.

Charges

Conspiracy against national security
Participating in the 2009 post-presidential election rallies

Status

In prison

Arvin Sedaghat Kish
In prison

Arvin Sedaghat Kish spent 60 days in solitary confinement, before going to trial, for participating in protests following the disputed presidential election of 2009. Following this, he was temporarily released on bail until he was put on trial where Judge Salavati sentenced him to three years in prison – he began serving time in September 2013.

Arvin Sedaghat Kish was one of many people arrested on December 7, 2009 during and after the demonstrations that followed the disputed presidential election of that year.

Sedaghat Kish was arrested on Valiasr Street in Tehran after protesters had dispersed. Intelligence Ministry agents, who were unaware of his identity and profession, beat and blindfolded him and then put him in the trunk of a car so they could take him to a safe house. Several hours later, Sedaghat Kish and several other detainees were transferred to Ward 240 at Evin Prison and interrogated.

Several days later - when the media reported his arrest - interrogators found out that Sedaghat Kish was a journalist. Upon finding this out, he was separated from other detainees and placed in solitary confinement in Ward 209. He spent a total of 60 days in solitary, during which he was unable to contact his family or a lawyer. He was eventually charged with conspiracy against national security for participating in illegal gatherings and released on bail on February 7, 2010.

He was tried in September 2010 at Branch 15 of the Revolutionary Court presided over by Judge Salavati. The trial was just a few minutes long and was more of an interrogation than a judicial hearing - Sedaghat Kish was not permitted to have a lawyer present. Sedaghat Kish admitted to participating in “peaceful demonstrations” and for this the judge sentenced him to three years in prison.

On September 15, 2013 Sedaghat Kish was summoned by the authorities to begin serving his sentence; he was sent to communal Ward 350, which is reserved for political prisoners, at Evin prison.

Sedaghat Kish is a music writer by trade and has had more than 200 articles, both in Persian and English, published.